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Email us right away and we’ll send you a different link to […] Issue #3 Has Been Printed and We’ll Begin Shipping Them We have just picked up Issue #3 of the Anglotopia Magazine from the printer. It looks beautiful! We’ll begin shipping them out tomorrow. It’s going to take us about a week to get them all out. We have about 600 subscribers and pre-orders to get through. Last time we used a third party shipping company […] Pre-order Issue #3 Now To make sure that you can get a copy of the next issue of the Anglotopia magazine, we recommend pre-ordering. We’re only getting 900 copies and 600 or so have already been reserved. We will likely sell out again. Click here to preorder. Related By Jonathan 3 Comments Chequers Court is the official country retreat of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Currently enjoyed by David Cameron, Chequers is a 16th century gothic mansion elegantly restored to its former glory by Reginald Bloomfield in the early 20th century.

Once the jail of a banished royal, Chequers rich history dates back to Elizabethan times but its treasures are unfortunately not open to the public. Key Facts about the House Chequers is located near Ellesborough in Buckinghamshire, England. Chequers was built in the 16th century by William Hawtrey. There has been a house on the site of Chequers since the 12th century. Chequers has been the private country retreat of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 1921. History of the House Chequers Court is known for its important role in British political life. Located just 41 miles from Downing Street this 16th century country house and estate was given to the nation of Great Britain in 1917 by Sir Arthur Lee and has been the official country seat and private retreat of the Prime Minister since 1921. Chequer’s origins are somewhat ambiguous. It is known that the house as it stands today was built, or at least extensively remodelled, by William Hawtrey in 1565.

Hawtrey’s name appears in the reception room of the house and his initials and the date of 1565 are carved into the brickwork in various places on the house’s exterior. What sort of building stood on the site of Chequers before Hawtrey’s remodelling is largely unknown but the dating of building materials suggests that there has been a house on this site since the 12th century. The name ‘Chequers’ may come from the house’s first resident, Elias Ostiarius, whose name indicates that he was an usher of the Court of the Exchequer. This original house passed through many generations of this family before being passed into the Hawtrey family line. In the same year Hawtrey completed his renovations, Chequers earned its place in the great tomes of English History when it became the prison of a banished royal, the great-granddaughter of Henry VIII, Lady Mary Grey. Queen Elizabeth I herself ordered Lady Mary Grey’s confinement herself when it was learned Lady Grey had married without her family’s consent.

For two years, between 1565 and 1567, Hawtrey guarded Lady Grey in an attempt to ensure she would have no descendents who could, in future, challenge the throne. The room in which Lady Grey was confined has been kept in its original condition. Chequers passed through many families in subsequent years including the Wooleys, Crokes and Thurbanes and the Russells. John Russell, owner of Chequers in 1715, was the grandson of Oliver Cromwell. In 1832, the house was still in the possession of the Russell family and it was Sir George Russell who commissioned architect William Atkinson to modernize the house in gothic style by removing Hawtrey’s original Tudor paneling and windows, plastering the exterior and redecorating the interior in a neo-gothic style. Chequers was briefly owned by the Astley family and leased by the wonderfully named Clutterbucks before being taken on a long lease by a Mr Arthur Lee and his wife, an American heiress, Ruth Lee.

With the advice of Reginald Bloomfield and the work of Bertram Astley, the Lees brought Chequers back to its original Elizabethan style. The external Gothic additions made by the Russells were removed and the Tudor features reinstated and the interiors were remodeled using many imported and reproduction 16th and 17th century antiquities. In the East wing of the house sits the magnificent Hawtrey Room which Bloomfield restored with imported 16th century paneling and reproduction heraldic glass. Above this room is the Great Parlour which features a chimney place brought by Lord Lee from one of his houses in Ipswich and an Elizabethan-style frieze and plasterwork. The Great Hall was also completely remodeled by Bloomfield who added a plaster ceiling copied from the residence of Paul Pindar, an alabaster fireplace and a 17th century screen that forms a passage on the south side. A few years before the outbreak of World War I the Lees purchased Chequers and allowed the house to be used as a hospital during wartime. Following the war the Lees, who were by this time the Lord and Lady of Fareham and childless, left the house to the nation.

On 8 January 1921 the Lees handed over the house to then Prime Minister David Lloyd George. A stained glass window in Chequers has the following inscription “This house of peace and ancient memories was given to England as a thank-offering for her deliverance in the great war of 1914–1918 as a place of rest and recreation for her Prime Ministers for ever.” During the Second World War, Winston Churchill declined to use Chequers as his country retreat due to security concerns and when not in London resided in Ditchley in Oxfordshire until late 1942 when security measures had been put in place. Chequers hosted the leaders of the 24th G8 summit’s spouses in 1998 and in 2014 was visited by Queen Elizabeth II. What Makes Chequers Very Famous? Chequers has played host to important political figures and celebrities from all over the world since it became the official country retreat of the Prime Minister in 1921.

The family who donated Chequers to the nation, the Lord and Lady of Fareham, recognised the huge political change of the twentieth century and pre-empted a situation where the elected Prime Minister of Great Britain may not have the means to fund his own country house. Chequers is symbolic of Lord and Lady Fareham’s vision of a fairer political system, where a lack of wealth or an aristocratic background would not disqualify potential future leaders. Further Research David Cameron gives the Queen tour of Chequers | Daily Mail Online comments For the first time in almost two decades, the Queen visited Chequers yesterday. But if she was excited to be back, she hid it rather well behind her solemn expression. It was only the third visit the monarch has made to the Prime Minister’s country retreat, and her first since she accompanied Sir John Major in 1996. David Cameron – who is given a weekly audience at Buckingham Palace – arranged the trip so that he could ‘host her for a change’, No10 said.

The Queen was shown a wall of photographs of former Prime Ministers at the Buckinghamshire country residence Prince Philip also took an interest in the photographs, before heading outside to plant a tree Mr Cameron said he was 'delighted' to invite them to the Prime Minister’s country retreat after unearthing old photographs of a 1970 visit by US President Richard Nixon. After a tour of the house, the rare occasion was marked by the Duke of Edinburgh planting an oak tree in the grounds. RELATED ARTICLES Share Prime Ministers regularly use Chequers to host allies, world leaders and celebrities. But the Queen has not been to the grace-and-favour home near Ellesborough in Buckinghamshire for 18 years, and has only ever been invited by Tory Prime Minister. There were no trips under Gordon Brown, Tony Blair or Margaret Thatcher. The Queen last paid a visit when Sir John Major was prime minister in 1996.

After today's lunch Mr Cameron wrote on Twitter: 'Delighted to host Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh for lunch at Chequers today.' Tour: David Cameron showed the Queen around Chequers after lunch, with his wife Samantha looking on It was the first time the Queen has been to the Prime Minister's country retreat since 1996 A LUNCH MENU FIT FOR A QUEEN Starter Bread and butter pudding with icecream Cheese and biscuit A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘The last time the Queen visited Chequers in 1996 she planted an oak tree in the grounds and the Prime Minister thought this would be a nice thing to do on this occasion.’ The menu for today’s lunch included Scottish smoked salmon for starter, a main course of lamb with potato and vegetables and bread and butter pudding and icecream for dessert, followed by cheese and biscuits. According to chef Alan Lavender, who worked at Chequers from 1986 until 2010, Sir John served the Queen warm marinated salmon before presenting her with a jar of home-made Chequers chutney.

Her first visit was in October 1970 when she joined the then-PM Edward Heath and US president Richard Nixon. She was photographed outside the red bricked Tudor mansion with the PM, Nixon and his wife Pat. ‘The PM and the Queen see each other regularly and the Queen hosts the PM at the palace once a week,’ the Downing Street spokesman added. ‘The PM thought this would be a good opportunity to have lunch with him, to host her for a change when he had been at Chequers he found some old photos of previous visits by the Queen including a visit with President Nixon in 1970 and thought it would be nice to host her again.’ The Duke of Edinburgh planted an oak tree in the grounds, after the Queen did the same in 1996 Mr Cameron decided to invite the Royals for lunch after unearthing photographs of an earlier visit with Richard Nixon Before leaving Chequers, the Queen signed a visitors' book, with the Prime Minister and Duke of Edinburgh looking on At the time of the Nixon lunch several hundred people gathered at the main entrance of the estate, with a few holding anti-American placards calling for peace in Vietnam.

The guests dined on fillet of sole with lobster, smoked salmon, roast sirloin of beef and ice cream with mangoes, strawberries and peaches. Chequers and its 1,000 acre estate were bequeathed to the nation in 1917 by Sir Arthur Lee, an MP and director-general of food production. The Prime Minister's grace and favour country retreat regularly hosts world leaders and celebrities, but the Queen has only been twice during her reign Mr Cameron made the invitation after coming across old photographs of the Queen visiting in 1970 with Tory PM Edward Heath (left) and US President Richard Nixon Lloyd George became its first prime ministerial occupant in 1921. The Queen has dined at Downing Street numerous times. In July 2012, she and the Duke of Edinburgh joined Mr Cameron, Mr Brown, Mr Blair and Sir John for a lunch to mark her Diamond Jubilee. Traditionally, the Queen invites the Prime Minister to make an annual visit to Balmoral, her private residence in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, each September.

Chequers | estate, England, United Kingdom | Britannica.com estate, England, United Kingdom Globe Theatre Chequers, formally Chequers Court, country house, administrative and historic county of Buckinghamshire , England , situated 30 miles (50 km) northwest of London, the official country residence of the prime ministers of Great Britain. The estate is about 1,500 acres (600 hectares) in extent. Chequers owes much of its present character to the remodeling, in 1565, of its predecessor. In the 19th century the exterior was plastered and the interior redecorated in neo-Gothic style. In 1917 Viscount Lee of Fareham made provision, with parliamentary approval, for the house to become a weekend retreat and place for prime ministers to entertain guests. Since 1921, when David Lloyd George became the first prime minister occupant, his successors have usually spent time there during their terms of office, and ministerial weekends at Chequers have become a part of British political life. Chequers, Ellesborough, Buckinghamshire, Eng.

prime minister the head of government in a country with a parliamentary or semipresidential political system. In such systems, the prime minister—literally the “first,” or most important, minister—must be able to command a continuous majority in the legislature (usually the lower house... Corrections? Updates? Help us improve this article! Contact our editors with your feedback. MEDIA FOR: You have successfully emailed this. Error when sending the email. Try again later. Edit Mode Submit Tips For Editing We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles. You can make it easier for us to review and, hopefully, publish your contribution by keeping a few points in mind. Encyclopædia Britannica articles are written in a neutral objective tone for a general audience. You may find it helpful to search within the site to see how similar or related subjects are covered. Any text you add should be original, not copied from other sources. At the bottom of the article, feel free to list any sources that support your changes, so that we can fully understand their context. (Internet URLs are the best.) Your contribution may be further edited by our staff, and its publication is subject to our final approval. Unfortunately, our editorial approach may not be able to accommodate all contributions.

Submit Thank You for Your Contribution! Our editors will review what you've submitted, and if it meets our criteria, we'll add it to the article. Please note that our editors may make some formatting changes or correct spelling or grammatical errors, and may also contact you if any clarifications are needed. Uh Oh There was a problem with your submission. Please try again later. Close Date Published: August 14, 2008 URL: Access Date: January 18, 2017 Share CHEQUERS - 1000595| Historic England CHEQUERS List Entry Summary This garden or other land is registered under the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953 within the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens by English Heritage for its special historic interest. Name: CHEQUERS The garden or other land may lie within the boundary of more than one authority. County: Buckinghamshire Parish: Great and Little Kimble National Park: Not applicable to this List entry. Grade: II Date of most recent amendment: Not applicable to this List entry. Legacy System Information The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System: Parks and Gardens UID: 1585 Asset Groupings This list entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings are not part of the official record but are added later for information. List entry Description Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details. Reasons for Designation Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details. History Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details. Details An C18/C19 landscape park and woodland with late C19/early C20 formal gardens and work by Reginald Blomfield (1890s) and H Avray Tipping (1911-12); associations with most C20 Prime Ministers. HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT The Hawtrey family owned the land around Chequers from the C13. There was no known enclosed park on the site, but there may have been a medieval warren to the north-west. The last male Hawtrey to occupy Chequers, William, built a manor house here c 1565, possibly on the site of an earlier building.

William Hawtrey became one of the wealthiest men in the county and his house is a fine example of C16 building. The estate was owned by several families, including the Russells, in the C18, and in the early C19 Sir Robert Greenhill Russell Gothicised the house. From 1892(1909 Reginald Blomfield (1856-1942) worked on the house for the Astley family, his contributions including the south terrace by the house. In 1911-12 H Avray Tipping redesigned the rest of the gardens around the house, creating several walled enclosures. Sir Arthur Lee (later Viscount Fareham) bought the estate in 1910, and, having restored the house to its pre-Gothicised appearance, gave it to the nation in 1917 as a country residence for the Prime Minister. The Lees vacated the estate in 1921, when the Prime Minister of the day, David Lloyd George, took up residence. The estate remains in this use, and nearly all subsequent Prime Ministers have used it as such.

DESCRIPTION LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING Chequers is located in the Chiltern Hills, 8km south of Aylesbury. The c 200ha site lies in a shallow valley, close to the northern scarp of the Chilterns which descends sharply to the Vale of Aylesbury. The site is sheltered by the surrounding hills and wooded hilltops. It is bounded on the east and south-east by the lane from Great Missenden to Ellesborough, and by hilly agricultural land and woodland on the other sides. Chequers is set in agricultural and wooded countryside which rises around it on three sides, with a gently sloping valley running south. Very few C20 developments are visible in its setting. ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES The main drive approaches the house from the south. The entrance from the Great Missenden lane is marked by two two-storey red-brick lodges and gates and gate piers, c 750m south of the house. This drive was constructed in 1921, on what was probably the line of the Elizabethan approach from the south.

It runs straight towards the south front of the house for 500m, dividing to west and east 250m south of the house. The southern part of the drive is enclosed by an avenue of semi-mature beech trees donated by Winston Churchill in the 1950s. Each arm of the drive curves around a large lawn bounded on the north by the formal garden. The west arm runs north to the service wing west of the house. The east arm also continues north, turning west by the house to arrive at the entrance to the east courtyard, providing a view of The Monument on Coombe Hill to the north-east. The large lawn south of the formal garden is crossed by another drive running from west to east. This drive enters the park south of Home Lodge on the east boundary, then runs west across the park into the area of wood and warren. Another track runs north from the house across the park towards Ellesborough church. The OS 1st edition map published 1885 shows two drives east of the house and no south drive.

The main drive entered at Home Lodge, a brick, C19, single-storey, Elizabethan-style lodge (E B Lamb 1838, listed grade II), now isolated from any drive. This drive curved north before turning south to arrive at the east front of the house. The 1885 OS map does not show the walled east entrance court. PRINCIPAL BUILDING Chequers (listed grade I) lies in a south-facing valley. The house consists largely of the c 1565 red-brick mansion built by William Hawtrey, particularly his north and south wings. An east wing with early fabric, and an early C18 west wing complete this courtyard house, with a service court (E B Lamb 1836-8) attached to the west. The central open courtyard thus formed was roofed over in the mid C19 to become the Great Hall. In the early C19 the house was Gothicised and stuccoed on the exterior, it being returned to its Elizabethan style by Bertram Astley in 1892, with additional advice from Reginald Blomfield. Various alterations were made at this time.

Lord Lee of Fareham bought the estate in 1909 and gave it to the nation in 1917. Subsequently no major alterations have been carried out. GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS The gardens lie close to the house. In the north garden Avray Tipping's broad, flagged path extends along the north side of the house. The level north lawn is bounded at the eastern end by his brick wall, with a square, brick garden house in the south-east corner. A ha-ha, possibly earlier, defines the north boundary of the lawn with the park. A lime avenue runs north from the edge of the north lawn. Crows Close, shown and named on the 1629 Chequers estate map, is a grove of mixed mature trees with many limes. Near this is the earliest area of memorial trees, mostly cedars, planted by the Lees and Theodore Roosevelt in the early C20. East of the house Avray Tipping created the rectangular entrance courtyard against the house, surrounded by three brick walls, to form an imposing approach to the house. The north wall of this courtyard divides the courtyard from the north garden.

The courtyard has a broad gravel turning circle with a quatrefoil lawn in the middle. It is entered through iron gates and brick piers with pointed stone finials on top, inspired by those at Canons Ashby, Northamptonshire (qv). Two doors in the walls on either side of the forecourt give access to the north and south gardens. The south garden is the focal formal feature. Here Avray Tipping created a formal, rectangular, brick-walled rose garden south of Blomfield's terrace which runs across the south front of the house. Steps lead from the centre of Blomfield's terrace down to the parterre. A narrow stone path runs around the other sides of the parterre which is sunk just enough to gain shelter and privacy from the buttressed south wall. This wall has a paved terrace running along the top of it connecting a brick garden house at each end. Stone-flagged paths separate the box-hedged rose beds on the parterre. Immediately west of the house is the service area and service entrance to the house. This is screened by an area of shrubs and trees bounded by a shallow ditch and edged in places with large box plants.

This feature shelters the house from the west and appears to be the remains of the shrubbery with many paths shown on the 1st edition large-scale OS map surveyed 1881-2. There is an informal water feature with rockwork here. The 1629 estate map shows two parallel, independent ranges, through which the house was approached from a forecourt with separate gatehouse south of the southern range. The foundations of this gatehouse were uncovered during the construction of the parterre in 1911 and the outline marked on York-stone paving. Additionally, on the estate map regular rectangular enclosures are shown adjacent to the west of the house, and a rectangular belt of trees in Crows Close to the north. A maze is indicated 350m north-west of house. Most of the rest of the landscape shown is divided into fields and woodland. Lipscombe (1847) refers to a 'small but very elegant parterre' which existed on the south front of the house. PARK The park is divided into several sections. The North Park and South Park lie north and south of the house respectively, separated by the kitchen garden area and the house.

These park areas are visually bounded to the east by the area of extensive woodland beyond the site, running up the eastern hillside. The South Park is divided into two: the southern half is arable, with some single park trees and an occasional clump; the northern half is pasture, also with single trees. The North Park is pasture, bounded at the north end by a belt of trees. South-west of the house the park is open arable, bounded on the west by Mable and Whorley Woods. These woods frame the view to the south-west and west. A park is shown on the 1885 OS map north, east and west of the house. The large tract of land west of the house is rough pasture with the remains of field boundaries marked by trees. North-west of the house is a valley called The Dene running uphill away from the house. This is arable with several large clumps in it. North of this, Beacon Hill, a high, grassy ridge, dominates the western parkland. Its single clump stands out as a landmark for miles around from the Vale of Aylesbury to the north.

There are panoramic views of the Vale of Aylesbury from the north edge of the site, particularly the spine of Beacon Hill. In the north-west of the site a detached area of parkland is bounded by Little Kimble Hill and the lane to Ellesborough, and the Warrens to the south-east. It is pasture with a series of mostly dry, small ponds running north through it, which are connected with Silver Springs pond to the south-east. The parkland slopes down to the north-west. A C19 brick lodge stands at its north-west point. Extensive ancient ditches and earthworks are present. The western end of the site consists of woodland and scrub on the Chiltern escarpment. Many paths and a drive run through this area which was a medieval warren. In the late C19 various ornamental features existed in this area, such as the Velvet Lawn south of Cymbeline's Castle (scheduled ancient monument), Happy Valley, and Silver Springs (now two dry ponds), in the north of this area. In 1909 the Silver Springs ponds were stocked with trout. These features are now largely overgrown.

A dominant natural and very rare feature is the quantity of native box plants growing beneath the trees (SSSI). Panoramic views of the Vale of Aylesbury open up at various points in this area. KITCHEN GARDEN The kitchen garden lies east of the house, separated by a lawn and specimen memorial trees planted by past Prime Ministers and visiting foreign heads of state. The kitchen garden is surrounded on three sides by brick walls. On the west side a C20 agricultural dwelling has been built. The garden is still used for produce for the house, and two small glasshouses lie against the north wall. On the other, north side of the north wall is a range of potting sheds and related outbuildings. East of the walled garden is an orchard area. The half-timbered and brick gateway is aligned with the straight path running from west to east through the kitchen garden and orchard. West of the walled garden is an ornamental brick and flint kennel and associated buildings.

REFERENCES G Lipscombe, History and Antiquities of the County of Buckinghamshire (1847) Country Life, 28 (30 December 1910), pp 970-81; 42 (6 October 1917), pp 324-33; (13 October 1917), pp 348-55; (20 October 1917), pp 372-9 J Gilbert Jenkins, Chequers, A history of the Prime Minister's Buckinghamshire home (1967) P S Fry, Chequers, The country home of Britain's Prime Ministers (1977) N Pevsner and E Williamson, The Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire (1994), pp 234-6 N Major, Chequers, the Prime Minister's country house and its history (1996) Maps A topographical description ...

of the Manors of Ellesborough, Chequers ..., 1629, (Buckinghamshire Record Office) OS 6" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1885 2nd edition published 1900 3rd edition published 1922 OS 25" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1881-2 2nd edition published 1898 Description written: November 1997 Amended: June 1998; April 1999 Register Inspector: SR Edited: June 1999 Selected Sources Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details National Grid Reference: SP 83625 05918 Map © Crown Copyright and database right 2017. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900. © British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2017. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006. Use of this data is subject to Terms and Conditions .

The above map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. For a copy of the full scale map, please see the attached PDF - 1000595 .pdf The PDF will be generated from our live systems and may take a few minutes to download depending on how busy our servers are. We apologise for this delay. This copy shows the entry on 20-Jan-2017 at 11:31:52. End of official listing Chequers, the house Mum fell in love with... The Iron Lady 30 years on by Carol Thatcher | Daily Mail Online Chequers, the house Mum fell in love with... The Iron Lady 30 years on by Carol Thatcher comments It is almost 30 years to the day since I first set foot in Chequers, but the memories are undimmed. In May 1979, in those weeks after Mum became Prime Minister, my brother Mark drove me there in his sports car, pulling up at the entrance just in time for dinner.

Ahead of us, down the gun-barrel-straight Victory Drive, lined with magnificent beech trees given by Churchill, was a gracious, discreet rose-red brick and grey stone Tudor building. After four hard years tunnelling away in opposition, this was pure, sunlit bliss for our family. Taking it easy: For once, Mum relaxes with the Sunday papers - and with her shoes kicked off By stately home standards, of course, Chequers is modest, with only ten bedrooms. But, as my mother later wrote: 'I do not think anyone has stayed long at Chequers without falling in love with it.' My parents adored the place and treasured the weekends they spent there during her 11 years in power. My late father Denis declaimed to anyone within earshot: 'Chequers is why you get the job [of PM].' The house - outside Great Missenden in Buckinghamshire - has been the official country residence of the Prime Minister since the end of the First World War. A building has occupied the site since the 12th Century, but the current one dates from the 16th.

I liken Chequers to a boutique hotel, albeit with top-level security and that adrenaline buzz that comes from being at the centre of Government. It is, simply, the perfect weekend retreat, in complete contrast to the terrace house with the shiny black front door off Whitehall. No matter how stressful the past five days in Downing Street had been, just getting into the chauffeur-driven prime ministerial car on Friday evening to head for Chequers was a tonic. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share Ten days after the 1979 Election win, my mother held a belated and low-key victory lunch party on a marvellously bright Sunday. On that occasion I took a photograph of Mum and the late Lord Thorneycroft - then Conservative Party chairman - sipping coffee at one end of the orangerie that housed a delectable indoor swimming pool. Knowing my mother wouldn't take a dip because of the threat to the hairdo, I looked forward to doing many lengths in a virtually private pool. No such luck. Mum discovered it cost £5,000 a year to heat, so the boiler was turned off. Even the pool didn't escape a wave of her thrifty wand.

These days I rarely have a conversation with my mother without Chequers getting a mention, especially our Christmases there. The house was tailor-made for a traditional British Christmas - exactly the sort favoured by Mrs Thatcher. Every year, Mark and I would dump our presents under the massive tree in the Great Hall with its stupendously lofty ceilings and ornate carved wooden gallery as carols played on the hi-fi. Cards from overseas, royalty, heads of state and businessmen were arranged on a grand piano. Visitors delighted in examining the signatures of the great and the good. A handwriting expert would have been in their element analysing those who could achieve joined-up writing while other autographs looked a touch loopy. Days of sunlit bliss: Mum, Dad, Mark - and me in a hand-me-down dress from Mum The Christmas menu never varied - chilled melon followed by roast turkey and then Christmas pudding, brandy sauce and mince pies. Flight Sergeant Alan Lavender, the Chequers chef, famously kept a low profile, only emerging on Christmas day for his star turn - the carving of the turkey in the wood-panelled dining room.

He was one of a marvellous staff drawn from the Army, Navy and Air Force who attended to every waking wish of the individual who is No 1. When Michelle Obama was questioned recently about her new life in the White House, she said simply: 'If you want pie, there's pie.' So it was with Chequers. The redoubtable Wing Commander Vera Thomas, the caretaker, indulged my parents constantly. Her instructions to staff were simple: 'If the Prime Minister or Mr Thatcher want moose on toast at midnight, they get it.' Moose was never required, but there were plentiful supplies of chocolate, for which my mother had a weakness. Denis was equally spoiled in the food department - perhaps as compensation for the reheated meals or beans on toast he got during the week in the flat above Downing Street. The attention to detail was almost military: the Radio Times had always to be left open at the appropriate day, the Sunday newspapers were arranged on the sideboard in precise symmetry - so much so that we struggled to put them back in exactly the same positions. Mark and I were slightly in awe of the staff, making sure we were scrubbed up and well turned out so as not to embarrass Mum.

Occasionally our down-to-earth attitudes puzzled them. When I asked to keep an empty nine-litre salmanazar of champagne as a souvenir from Dad's 70th birthday party in 1985, there were quizzical looks from the staff. They weren't used to a Prime Minister's family asking for the empties. For Sunday lunch parties, my parents would wait to greet guests in the Hawtrey Room, adjacent to the front door and decorated in cheerful raspberry and cream hues. Blazing log fires wafted a cosy aroma of wood smoke through the house. Convivial banter and political gossip made up the hubbub until Mum was informed: 'Luncheon is served, Prime Minister.' We would all troop through for the roast. Even eating required political nuancing. After the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, there was much talk about whether Welsh lamb had been contaminated. To demonstrate her conviction that it was absolutely fine, my mother insisted on its frequent appearance on Sunday lunch menus. I envisaged departing guests pulling over in the nearest lay-by in one of Buckinghamshire's leafy lanes to check they weren't glowing with radioactivity.

Golden retreat: Chequers, above, looking like a French chateau Those same lay-bys were often used before lunch by guests who had overestimated the travelling time and didn't want to commit the social gaffe of arriving too early. Dad put a stop to this by priming guests to come on in whenever they got there because 'my woman doesn't like me to start drinking before the guests arrive'. I have no idea whether this imprecation was passed to Princess Margaret, the guest for a splendid Sunday lunch in 1983. Mark and I managed to squeeze on to the end of the table for a menu of trout, roast saddle of lamb, fruit salad and cheese. Fellow guests included Norman Tebbit, Cecil Parkinson and Michael Heseltine along with Antony Jay, the writer of Yes, Minister, my mother's favourite TV programme. After the Princess left, we adjourned for coffee to the Long Library upstairs. Mum then slipped seamlessly back into campaigning mode for the coming General Election, talking ebulliently of 'attack strategies'. When everyone had gone, however, she became wistful. Gazing out of the window at the pastoral scene, she was reminded that Chequers was only a tied cottage.

It came with the job and the keys had to be handed back one day. 'When I'm a private person - if we lose - I've had the best four years of one's life,' she said. She paused and looked around the beautiful room. 'You do think, "Perhaps I won't be here again."' One of the most history-changing lunches to take place in the dining room was for Mikhail Gorbachev and his wife Raisa in December 1984. Gorbachev, yet to become Soviet leader, ate sole in shrimp sauce, fillet of beef and oranges in caramel. My mother was impressed by Gorbachev, famously declaring: 'This is a man I can do business with.' Dad was equally complimentary. 'It was extraordinary,' he said later. 'At the time one doesn't say that it was history in the making, but I realised that this was something pretty special.' He was spot on. Gorbachev succeeded Konstantin Chernenko as Soviet leader three months later, heralding the start of perestroika and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The official 'team' photograph of Gorbachev's visit is well known.

Less so is my photo of the view from those steps across the quadrangle, through the gate to the house and the crunchy gravel drive which wound around an island of beautifully manicured lawn with a statue at its epicentre. Such history was never far away. Indira Gandhi, the Indian prime minister, had slept in the four-poster I occasionally occupied. In her prime: Chilly political times as Mum waits in front of the fire in the Hawtrey Room to welcome Sunday lunch guests Sometimes, when we had a full house of guests, I was persuaded to move to a room under the eaves called the Prison Room. It was so named because Lady Mary Grey - the younger sister of Lady Jane Grey - was held there in 1565 after she had been banished from court by Elizabeth I for marrying below her station. Chequers, of course, isn't any old country pad off the M40 north-west of London. The machinery of state and security still turns, but discreetly. On one occasion after dinner I headed for the front door to go to my car to find a book - only to be stalled by a member of staff so alarms could be turned off and dogs held at bay.

When I was walking the grounds the day we had Nancy Reagan for lunch in 1981, a couple of burly American security men popped out of a hedge and demanded to know my identity. 'Look, I just live here,' was the best I could blurt out in a defensive tone, twinged with indignation. Once, I offered my mother a spin in my new car - a modest little runaround allotted a parking space to the side of the house while Mark's shiny sports car enjoyed pride of place at the front. The poor police must have had an almighty shock when she piled into my passenger seat and I set off. I could almost hear their collective sigh of relief when I did a U-turn and headed back. The grandeur of Chequers suits formal entertaining, but it is equally good for kicking off one's shoes and relaxing. I used to curl up on a comfy sofa on a weekend afternoon while Dad was practising his chipping and putting out on the lawn and Mum toiled away in the study. Dad also liked long walks, preferably those ending at licensed premises.

In fact, during the week when my mother was running the country, Denis often enquired of political and non-political cronies he bumped into around town: 'When are you coming down to the ranch?' My mother was never ever entirely off duty. There were times when she would look down Victory Drive, waiting for the car to arrive with the red boxes. Often if we were sitting in the White Parlour, a secretary would pop in with news of a phone call, and Mum would slip back into her power heels and march off in purposeful mode. Late-night phone calls were especially frequent during the Falklands conflict in 1982 because of the time difference between Britain and the South Atlantic. History lesson: My bedroom at Chequers with the bed Indira Gandhi once occupied While Mum was out of the room on the phone, Dad, Mark and I would throw one another tense glances, hoping it wouldn't be bad news about one of our ships. Chequers, however, managed to work its charm. On a beautiful spring day, she would stop work and walk with us, studying the trees and daffodils. At the rear of the house was a wonderful terrace that ran the length of the building.

Lavender grew prolifically and the sunken rose garden was delightful. Beyond, cows grazed in peaceful meadows before gently inclining hills. I have lovely memories of laughter and good times (even when the opinion polls were lousy) on that terrace. My mother's study and the dining room overlooked it and often when she surfaced from her work she'd ask whether it was warm enough to go out and the door would be unlocked. One memory will never leave me. The Sunday after the Brighton bomb in 1984 I arrived at Chequers having flown back from South Korea where I'd been on a journalistic assignment. I didn't go to my home from the airport, but hired a car and drove straight to Buckinghamshire. It was a fantastic Indian summer's day with a postcard blue sky. When I got there, Wing Commander Thomas told me the Prime Minister had just got back from church and was enjoying the sunshine on the terrace. I joined her and she described the horrific scenes at the Grand Hotel, saying: 'This is the day I wasn't meant to see.' We sat for a few minutes in silence, quietly giving thanks. Saturday nights were kept clear. No entertaining and the PM caught up with her red boxes and some sleep.

Sometimes she liked to watch a tape of Yes Minister and chip into the dialogue. Thatchers have always answered the telly back. Occasionally I'd hear Dad sounding off in an animated gear and find him watching a rugby match on the TV. He'd been a referee himself and loved nothing more than heckling an offside call or dodgy penalty decision. When a big film was released - especially one with a strong British input - Mum would request a copy and we'd watch. But she wasn't much of a cinemagoer. She was seated next to former Austrian bodybuilder and now Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger at Ronald Reagan's burial in 2004, but I don't think she recognised him. When you are working your way up the greasy political pole, you don't spend a lot of time in West End movie houses. Drink to victory: Lord Thorneycroft and Mum have coffee by the indoor pool during her belated party to celebrate the 1979 Election In their 40 years of marriage, Chequers was the house my parents lived in the longest, and their fondness for it never diminished. But you can't buy Chequers, nor can you rent it.

It was given to the nation as a place of rest and recreation for Prime Ministers for ever. Her speechwriter, Ronnie Millar, remembers finding my mother sitting on a stool before the fire in the Great Parlour. 'Sitting there like that,' he told her, 'you look for all the world as though you belong to Chequers and Chequers belongs to you.' 'But it doesn't,' my mother replied realistically. We always knew leaving Chequers would be a wrench. After Mum resigned in November 1990, she spent one last weekend there with Denis, the culmination of an appalling few days in which she had been stabbed in the back by her own party. She asked me: 'Do you want to come to Chequers, darling? It will be the last time.' But I wanted them to have their privacy: 'No. I said goodbye to Chequers last weekend.' They spent their final lunch there with two friends at the small window table where they'd had their first meal. It was awkward and miserable, with no one sure what to say. Mum, staring out at the garden, broke a long silence. 'Look,' she said.

'There's a late rose.' One of the guests later described the scene to me poignantly: 'Denis and Margaret were walking hand-in-hand in tears along the gallery that overlooked the Great Hall.' Chequers is a hallowed place and this anniversary weekend I know just how extraordinarily fortunate I was to roll up there so many times - just because my mum was Prime Minister. Even now, her memories of the house come flooding back when we talk. It was never going to be for ever - we knew that - but perhaps that impermanence makes our recollections all the more vivid. • Carol Thatcher's Memoir, A Swim-On Part In The Goldfish Bowl is published by Headline at £18.99. To order your copy at the special price of £17.10 with free p&p call the Review Bookstore on 0845 155 0713.

Question: In which county is the Prime Minister's stately home Chequers
Answer: Buckinghamshire